Local label makers; news on the Pistols, Lips, and more.

Hot on the heels of last week's Papa Roach-approved Loudermilk item, another Seattle band you've sort of heard of is getting the major-label feel up: Pris, featuring Burke Thomas, late of Muzzle and Vendetta Red (who've already hopped from local Loveless Records to a sweet deal at big ole Epic). A&R reps and the label chief of American Recordings (home to your mom's two favorite bands, System of a Down and Slayer) trekked their way out to a Red Hook Brewery showcase in Woodinville—and not just for the Hefeweizen, we hear. Having never actually seen Pris in action, we won't assume to know what's good for them, but it's got us thinking: Which Northwest bands do you think truly deserve to play with the big boys, ࠬa Elliot Smith (Dreamworks) and Built to Spill (Warner Bros.)? We've got our own ideas, but humor us and send an e-mail to nights@seattleweekly.com. . . . Speaking of arbitrary lists, we just love that Vice magazine, home to such annoying/inspired inventories as "10 'Seminal' Bands That You Say You Love but You Never Listen to and 10 'Irrelevant' Bands That You Never Mention but Listen to Every Day" (i.e., unlistenable "seminals" Jesus Lizard, Sonic Youth, the Fall; awesome "irrelevants" Duran Duran, Land of the Loops, Generation X) and the Vice Guide to Guilty Pleasures (V.C. Andrews, MTV awards shows, popping zits). You used to have to go to viceland.com for all the fun stuff, since distribution in Seattle is just about nonexistent, but soon you can mosey down to your nearest independent record store for a big old audio dose of it—Vice, in cahoots with Atlantic Records (oh, those majors again), is starting its own label. Its first U.S. release, the Mercury Prize-nominated the Streets' Original Pirate

Hate to say I told you so: Hives stung by label woes.

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Material, is due in October. . . . Looks like trouble in overhyped paradise for the Hives, the so-called second coming of the Strokes/Stripes phenomenon. The Swedish band originally released 1997's Barely Legal and 2000's Veni Vidi Vicious on their country's own smallish Burning Heart label, before having the latter rereleased on U.S. biggie Epitaph this year to great fanfare and heavy MTV2 rotation. Unfortunately, Burning Heart claims the band's in-the-works third record belongs to them as part of a three-album deal, while guitarist Nicholaus Arson told the press, "We see it as the end of the contract with them, and that's why we've signed elsewhere. More I cannot say." BH's marketing manager replied that the label's officials are "totally shocked and disappointed. We have worked with the Hives for seven years; this has come completely out of the blue." Now the band and Universal U.K. are staring down the barrel of a major lawsuit involving Burning Heart, Epitaph, and Warner Bros. Until that dispute is settled (and lord knows, the international court system ain't exactly the Indy 500), the Hives will be prohibited from releasing any new material. . . . If you're sad you missed the Sex Pistols reunion in London last month, wipe away those tears; you can catch up with the band at a one-off appearance this September in L.A. for KROQ's second annual Inland Invasion radio festival. Bad Religion, the Buzzcocks, and the Damned are scheduled, but then again, so are Blink 182, New Found Glory, and the Offspring, so you decide if it's worth the trip. . . . Please, Days of Our Nights, tell us more about the Flaming Lips! We can't get enough! Well OK, then: Oklahoma's finest are unveiling a pair of box sets next month. On Sept. 30, Restless Records and Rykodisc will release The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid 1983-1988 and The

Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg 1989-1991, exhaustive looks at the band's first eight years, including their debut EP, first four releases, and a buttload of obscurities and unreleased materials—all remastered, with new art and extensive liner notes from mad genius Wayne Coyne. . . . Since Seattle is now being deprived entirely of the Metal Edge tour featuring Dokken, Ratt, Warrant, and so much more (contract disagreements—don't ask), we'll soothe the savage beast that is your metal fandom by giving you these updates: Everybody's favorite man in the leather thong and rotating drum cage, Tommy Lee, is now engaged to Prince's cute-as-a-belly-dancing-button ex-wife, Mayte; recently arrested Skid Row ex-frontman Sebastian Bach (he threatened to shoot up a bar in New Jersey) is in talks to play the lead in Broadway's Jesus Christ Superstar (no joke; he already got good reviews there for his title role performance in Jekyll & Hyde); and Vince Neil was just charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly punching a record executive in the face outside a club in West Hollywood and then standing over his injured body and taunting him. If convicted, Neil could get up to six months in jail. Feel better now? . . . And in medical news, Oasis, involved in a taxi crash last week in downtown Indianapolis—leaving Noel Gallagher with whiplash and facial bruising, and bassist Andy Bell and keyboard player Jay Darlington a little roughed up—are OK. They restarted their tour in New York Sunday night to a capacity crowd of 3,500, during which famously snarky brother Liam actually gave his black-and-blue brother a bouquet onstage. Alas, guitarist Michael "Mikey" Houser of jam-band biggies Widespread Panic is not OK; he died Saturday, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 40.